EU rejects claims of censorship targeting US tech giants but Trump threatens sanctions

Date:
Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:23:16 +0000

Description:
The Digital Services Act seeks to create a safer online environment, said the EU. Yet, according to US officials, it limits free speech and unfairly
targets American tech firms.

FULL STORY

No, the EU's Digital Service Act (DSA) doesn't constitute internet censorship and isn't designed to harm US big tech giants specifically.

This is the blunt reply from the European Commission on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, in response to accusations made by US President Donald Trump the day before Reuters reported .

On Monday, in fact, another report from Reuters revealed that the Trump administration was considering imposing sanctions against the European Union and any member states looking to implement DSA rules.

The EU's Digital Service Act seeks to create a safer online environment, said the EU, by limiting the spread of illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material, and disinformation on digital platforms. It also bans manipulative advertising practices.

Washington sees these actions as restrictions on Americans' freedom of
speech, with a government spokesperson confirming to Reuters that authorities are monitoring the situation in Europe "with great concern."

DSA enforcement decisions have so far affected X and Meta, but also Chinese-owned companies like AliExpress, Temu, and TikTok, said an EU spokesperson.

Beyond the EU

US officials' concerns around new digital regulations aren't limited to the
EU, though, nor to the Digital Service Act.

In a Truth Social post , Trump shared his intentions to "impose substantial additional tariffs" on all countries that target American tech companies with digital taxes or regulations, "unless these discriminatory actions are removed."

This comes only days after a pledge from the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to at least 13 US tech giants, including Apple, Alphabet (parent firm behind Google), Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, to resist UK and EU demands to weaken encryption and censor content.

Besides the EU DSA, the FTC raised the alarm about two UK laws in particular the Online Safety Act and Investigatory Powers Act .

US officials have been critical about the latter, following a Technical Capability Notice (TCN) issued under the law that hit Apple in February and
led the tech giant to remove its advanced end-to-end encryption protection
from iCloud in the UK market. The UK, however, has now agreed to drop its
Apple encryption backdoor request , in a victory for Washington.

At the end of July, mandatory age verification in the UK was also enforced as per the Online Safety Act, age-gating not just adult-only content, but also so-called legal but harmful material across multiple platforms like social media, dating apps, and even music streaming services, like Spotify.

Millions of Brits have so far turned to the best VPN apps to bypass age
checks, mostly for fear of the privacy and security consequences of sharing their most sensitive data with third parties.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/eu-rejects-claims-of-censor ship-targeting-us-tech-giants-but-trump-threatens-sanctions

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On Thu 28-Aug-2025 9:19a, Mike Powell@1:2320/105.0 wrote:

Description:
The Digital Services Act seeks to create a safer online environment, said the
EU. Yet, according to US officials, it limits free speech and unfairly targets American tech firms.

Wish the US would do the same with South Korea with some of their ridiculous laws.

Such as..

"Privacy of face" Forbids taking someones photo without their permission, even in public. Used to mostly be considered a TORT law, but has been used more and more in criminal cases. Expanded in the early 20s to make taking pictures of "women" in swim suits at a public beach. Making it a sex crime if you being there with a camera made them feel uncomfortable. Penalties include large fines, jail, and or chemical castration.

"Defamation using truth". Speaking ill of someone, even if true can lead to large fines and jail.

Over broad defamation / libal laws. Saying or writing anyting negative about a person / business can lead to a tort suite, even if purely subjective. IE: Blogging resturant and saying anything negative. If the owner feels they have lost business because of your blog, you may find yourself in court. This is why you almost never see any negative reviews in Korea.

Vauge, overreaching stalking laws. Stalking act inacted in 2021 is so broad someone can charge you with stalking if you attempt to contact them after an uknown amount of no response, or asking for no contact. There are not provisions to allow for context (Most US states must be repeated, and threatening, you can't have one without the other..). Leading to more of a tool of retaliation than preventing an actual crime.

A lot of these laws do nothing to protect the public but are used by the business conglomarates (Chibol), or government officals to hide their dirty business in the shawdows, or stifle public commnet.

Rug Rat (Brent Hendricks)
Blog and Forums - www.catracing.org
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